The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
The IoT is expanding to include non-traditional computing devices that are deployed in an outdoor environment. For example, computing devices can be deployed in an agricultural setting to monitor soil moisture and to control irrigation. However, such computing devices are subject to prolonged exposure to the outdoor environment with little, if any, interaction with people. Thus, such computing devices are typically environmentally rugged and power self-sufficient. Unfortunately, environmental ruggedness and power self-sufficiency typically involve a trade off in terms of high cost and/or limited functionality that hinder adoption of outdoor computing technology.
Outdoor computing devices can cost more than indoor computing devices for reasons related to environmental ruggedness and/or power self-sufficiency. An environmentally rugged design can involve integrated user interfaces that avoid exposing ports and/or connectors to the outdoor environment while risking obsolescence when more user interfaces are needed. For example, when a display or keypad is needed, an outdoor computing device without such user interfaces is subject to complete replacement, which can be a costly solution. Maintenance expenses can significantly increase ownership costs while limiting power self-sufficiency. For example, using battery-powered computing devices typically involves the cost and inconvenience of replacing depleted batteries on a regular basis. Using alternative power sources can involve relatively expensive components that are difficult to install properly. For example, using solar-powered computing devices typically involves specialized mounting equipment and knowledge to properly install solar panels that face the equator at a slanted angle.
Functionality can also be limited by environmental ruggedness and/or power self-sufficiency constraints. Power consumption typically increases with quantity and quality of user interfaces, ports, and/or connectors. Modularity offers some mitigation of cost and power concerns but can continue to be limited in functionality due to environmental ruggedness concerns. For example, a low-cost modular solution can offer a variety of sensors but continue to offer a limited number of ports in order to avoid exposing unused ports to the outdoor environment.
Thus, there is a need for an environmentally rugged and power self-sufficient design that is sensitive to cost and that overcomes the aforementioned limitations on functionality.
While each of the drawing figures depicts a particular embodiment for purposes of depicting a clear example, other embodiments may omit, add to, reorder, and/or modify any of the elements shown in the drawing figures. For purposes of depicting clear examples, one or more figures may be described with reference to one or more other figures, but using the particular arrangement depicted in the one or more other figures is not required in other embodiments.